Passive or Active Learning?

Marion Brady and Howard Brady

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Here’s a way to teach photography:

1. Give learners a book about photography.

2. Have them read a chapter.

3. In class, review the chapter.

4. Test to find out who remembers how much.

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5. Move on to the next chapter and repeat the process.

6. After the last chapter, give a test on the whole book.

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Photography without touching a camera.

That’s passive learning.

Ridiculous? Of course!

Whatever is learned this way is soon forgotten.

Believe it.

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Here’s an alternative:

Hand learners cameras. Then have them:

1. Take pictures. Lots of pictures.

2. Print. Compare. Enlarge. Crop. Reduce. Experiment. Play.

3. Argue with others about why some pictures are better or worse.

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4. Take more pictures.

5. Repeat the process, over and over.

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That’s active learning.

Whatever is learned is learned.

Believe it.

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Passive Learning Active Learning

Textbook, teacher talk Real world

Secondhand knowledge Firsthand knowledge

One thought process Many thought processes

Memory tests Performance tests

Extrinsic rewards Intrinsic rewards

Test-taking skills Photography skills

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Sadly, in most of the world’s classrooms, we’re teaching—

non-stop, top-down, grind-it-out,textbook-based

It’s like handing learners crossword puzzles with all the blanks already filled in.

passivity.

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In our passive classrooms, there’s no:

comparing analyzing classifyinghypothesizing

generalizing

synthesizing valuingrelating

No thinking, no real intellectual challenge. Just—

“Remember what’s in the book, and fill in the right oval.”

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Most textbooks (and other secondhand sources of information like the Internet) are…

…roadblocks standing in the way of active learning and real thinking.

Textbooks and the Internet contain conclusions. The author (or someone else) has already done the thinking.

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When the source of learning is the real world…

…active learning using many thought processes becomes possible.

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Everything worth learning can be learned actively.

Whatever is learned actively is really learned—intensely, deeply, permanently.

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investigating and diagramming their city’s water system gathering and comparing accounts of the Vietnam War

from veterans measuring and plotting wind direction and speed, air

temperature and pressure as a front approaches observing and recording greeting patterns when people

meet at the local mall planning possible community changes to minimize

energy consumption.

Active learning—learners:

The possibilities are endless.

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Of course, not everything worth knowing is directly accessible. Some things are distant in time, or space, or both.

When that’s the case, active learning requires primary sources—the “residue” of realities.

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Art Literature Tools Structures Documents Firsthand accounts Waste Other “unanalyzed”

data

Residue of realities:

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Primary sources can expand active learning to cover the universe.

“Unprocessed” sources—the residue of reality—allow room for real thinking by learners.

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If our goal is learners with enhanced thinking skills, learners who know how to make sense of reality, then active learning—based on reality or primary sources—is essential.

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Unfortunately, passive learning is much easier to evaluate than active learning.

Tests to find out what has been learned passively simply ask “How much do you remember?”

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Evaluating active learning is more complex. Analytical thinking processes and the products of active learning generally must be judged subjectively.

Standardized achievement tests simply can’t be used to evaluate active learning accurately.

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As rigid external standards for education are imposed on American schools, opportunities for active learning are largely blocked, locking learners into more and more passive learning.

This limits development of learner potential, leaving all children behind.

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Active learning can be summarized in one word: Investigate.

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An example of a curriculum free of the problems summarized earlier:

Connections:Investigating Reality

It’s available without cost.

Slideshows in this series:The World Has Changed

Information OverloadPassive or Active Learning?

The Invisible ElephantAll Aboard the Standards Express!

http://www.marionbrady.com

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To encourage dialog, this presentation is offered free of charge, and may be used, duplicated and distributed in its original form without permission of the author. Excerpts must follow fair use rules, with proper credits.

Copyright © 2009 by Marion Brady and Howard Brady.

Marion Brady4285 North Indian River DriveCocoa, Florida 32927Email: mbrady22@cfl.rr.com